Lasting Symphony of Loyalty
by Kaabisteru
Summary: He acted on it like nothing had changed. Yet after the worldwide announcement about remastered version of his game, Lloyd is struck with remorseful conscience. Thus the idealist has to weigh down the meaning of friendship while learning that perhaps, it isn't solely tied on console competition.
1. A Humble Visit

It must have been the hottest day in Mushroom Kingdom. Even now during sunset, Mario still felt hot and sweaty. It didn't really help taking overalls out and wearing only his tropical shirt and jeans he got many years ago from Isle Delfino.

_What a trip that was…_

There were still a few days to go until the grand event on June 11th. Quite dire those showcases were to help the console rise into all new heights, along with unveiling his newest adventure: like usual, he made sure to keep the project a well-hidden and closed secret between Miyamoto and his closest friends.  
The plumber sat on the rocking couch and sipped some _Super Soda_. He had a few compelling thoughts about visiting Delfino Plaza, but quickly brushed them off: Mario reminded himself about deeply despising that place. Unless he'd be guaranteed to not clean up the whole place before getting to have some sunshine and quiet.

Mario must have fell asleep because he heard someone knocking on the door. He rose his head and looked behind him. The knocking occurred again.  
He got up lazily and said "_Coming-a_,", before opening the door.

His eyes widened a bit with suprise.

Before him stood someone he couldn't really put his finger on where he had seen before: a young man with rather spiky but short brown hair, and wearing what appeared to be a black t-shirt and grey jeans: the modest appearance seemed to imply him being a country boy - another familiar characteristic.  
His lips curved into a smile, as though it seemed he was waiting for the plumber to recognize him.  
"_Uuuh- hi? Do you… recognize me, perhaps?_" he blurted. Mario gave him a glance of confusion. The man responded now with a few chuckles.

"I guess I'll take that as a no," he said, "does the name '_Cleaning Geezer_' ring a bell?"

Mario suddenly remembered.

"_Roy-a Arwing-a!_" he shouted. Now the man deeply sighed: it's tone implying sheer disappointment, yet one could recognize relief from his face that tried to stop him from smirking again.

"You haven't changed at all… haven't you?"

_"Eye to eye-a, country boy._"

* * *

Mario took a look in the fridges for any leftovers of cakes Peach had made for him few days ago. There seemed to be some "Tangy Chocolate" left: just what he needed. He took the cake plate out and cut a few slices, placing them on the plates.  
"So Lloyd, what brings you here?" he asked. However, there was no answer.  
Sighing, Mario put down his knife and went into the dining room.

He saw how Lloyd was disgusted by the pasta bolognese he was served: it came almost as a surprise to the young man that the plumber even entered the room. Lloyd quickly gulped and started to smile sheepishly.  
"Uhm… I don't feel like eating pasta right now." he said quickly. Mario said it was all okay, as he stated modestly he could eat it later. He wondered why Lloyd didn't like pasta though.

"Well it's not really that… it's just that this… has… uhm…" Lloyd continued, pointing to the little red clumps on the sauce.  
"_Tomatoes-a_? You don't like tomatoes?" Mario asked. Lloyd nodded slowly, slightly trembling in disgust.  
After apologizing, Mario took the pasta plate and went to switch it to the dessert in the kitchen.

After both finally sat down at the table, Mario asked his question from earlier again. Lloyd scratched his chin, trying to remember his motive. It took a bit of time for him to say it out loud:  
"Well, I came here to get the contract about the European languages you did with Nintendo. You see, we're having a remastered compilation pack made in high definition coming soon."  
"Ooh, really? Where?"  
"Uh… to the _Playstation 3_."

An awkward silence occurred. Suddenly Mario broke it with some suppressed laughter.

"Eheheheh-_ yeah. PS3…_ Of course-a. I'll bring in the contract, just a moment." he said, and walked off.

Lloyd started to observe Mario's house: It was actually modest for the most famous video game character in the world. I guess that's how Mario preferred his life: carefree and a bit lazy, but still with the potential to have fun in every corner of his home, as seen from the many souvenirs or furniture Mario got from his adventures.

Yet he couldn't really escape the pressuring feelings of speaking to Mario now like he was sort of a complete stranger, someone he shouldn't have too much to do with. It felt a bit crippling that he pretty much declared he was going to skip the Wii U for his game's remastered edition.

Soon the enthusiastic plumber returned with a few papers inside a file.  
"Just write your info on the papers in there and then bring them to Nintendo HQ this week to mark them as yours. _Prestõ_!" he said.

However, Mario noticed how Lloyd had become somewhat quieter. Only a few bites were taken from what he considered the most tasty and exotic chocolate cake of all the variants Peach had ever made.  
"Maybe it's better for you to go now, perhaps?" he asked, placing his gloved hand on the young idealist's shoulder. Lloyd glanced back slowly. He got up, and put the files inside his inventory.

_" Lloyd acquired "European Language Translation Files. "_

The man was about to leave, when Mario suddenly asked him to stay a bit. He scurried to the kitchen quickly, and then brought a bowl which had half of the cake left in it.  
"Here Lloyd, take the cake with you. I'm sure your friends will want-a-slice as well-a." Mario said, smiling. Lloyd couldn't help smiling back.  
"You're too nice, you know that?"  
"It's-a-me, Mario to you! Go along now and take the cake, I'm already struggling to control my temptation to have that cake back, mind you!"

* * *

The door was closed slowly behind him. Lloyd sighed, looking at the big sunset far beyond the cartoony-eyed hills and clouds. It was to soon become twilight in these grassy lands.  
He walked through the yard, soon meeting up with his friends waiting for him patiently at the port, all except for Zelos.  
"Gee Lloyd, you took a pretty long time- I was about to go chase some of those weird moles who were about to chew on my- _you brought cake!?_" he exclaimed, about to take a closer look before Sheena aggressively grasped his long locks to stop him. Lloyd put the cake quickly back into his inventory again. Regal was resting beside a tree in a leisurely manner, but got up after seeing the boy return.  
"So how'd it go? Did you get the files?" asked Colette, who had walked slowly towards Lloyd. He promptly pulled them out and showed them to everyone, glancing at the ground with melancholy etched into his features. Presea declared briefly, "Objective accomplished."  
"Presea's right, we gotta get going now before the other guys are worried about us," said Genis, holding the Fire Flower he had just picked. Sadly Raine took it from him as to quickly prevent "cross-powerup contamination".  
Not wasting anymore time, the party started to head off towards their Rheairds waiting near the other side of _Mushroom Way_.

During the walk though, Lloyd was interrupted by his girlfriend when he was in the middle of pretty deep thinking.  
"Lloyd… is this… _really the right thing to do?_" she asked, her tone suggesting sadness. Lloyd knew exactly what she was thinking.  
"I know… but it was their decision. This has… gone on forever. We had no choice."

Now Colette stopped as well. As she turned to Lloyd, he could see her looking very sad, almost on the verge of tears.  
"But… what about all the friends… all of them that we made 10 years ago? Do we really have to abandon them?"  
"I don't know Colette… but I don't think going back is… a better option. It's not safe to stay with them anymore."

Lloyd watched Colette's eyes widen: He was almost frightened about being not finished yet.

"I'm just… feeling like we don't belong there anymore after what we have done. I don't know if they would truly appreciate our company after that, or even look to us as friends anymore. We have no choice… but to move on."

Colette couldn't hold back anymore. Teardrops started to flow down her face as she trembled and clenched her fists. Lloyd was alarmed, frozen in place.  
"Lloyd… I-I-I-can't believe it… you're actually… _trying to forget _about our past…"

Now he became distraught as well.

"_N-no!_ I'm just… just… telling how it is! It's pointless to go back because we're not part of that community anymore after what we've done! It would be foolish! "

His statement made her shed tears even more. She hiccuped as she became overwhelmed with emotion.

"Lloyd, _you wouldn't…_ _you wouldn't ever forget… _we were _born _on that console… _It's a major reason why we got this far! Why are you trying to deny all this?! This isn't anything like you!_"

Lloyd knew he had said something horrible to Colette. Yet, that wasn't still enough to hold his argument back.

"_We're not there for them anymore! We've moved to another console! That's where we're supposed to belong! And as long as that—-_"

He then went silent all of a sudden as he saw his friends witness the arguing. Genis and Sheena watched in shock. Presea less so, with more of a sad face and fingers on her chin. Zelos tutted. Raine looked on in shock at the two, about to walk over to them to separate them, but Kratos grabbed her shoulder.

"_I'll handle this_."

Kratos went over to Lloyd, asking him to leave Colette alone for a while. Zelos then took this opportunity to gently prompt Colette to stay away from Lloyd for a while too. Colette accepted, still sobbing and feeling overwhelmed by sadness.  
When Kratos asked what the commotion was about, Lloyd glanced at the ground, a few tears falling to the grass.

"_I-It's… I-I-t's something I-I d-don't wish to talk about n-now._"

The Rheiards were waiting at top of the hill, along with a few turtles and walking, fanged mushrooms that were already examining it before Regal ordered them to go. Lloyd traveled with Kratos this time, as opposed to riding with Colette.

_For Lloyd, it would be one of his longest nights in his life._

* * *

_Lloyd & Co (c) Namco Bandai_

_Mario (c) Nintendo_


	2. Reminiscence

_- Tales Of Studios HQ - _

_Tokyo_

_Japan_

The mansion of the former headquarters. It had been painted in light colors by the sunrise of the dawn, even if the moderate cloudiness wouldn't promise a sunny day.

_Reid _was ascending up on the stairs to the second floor in order to bring some cake leftovers made for the birthday boys and girls back in the Tales Of Festival at Yokohama. Lloyd was the first one to come in his mind, since he was the main protagonist.  
After watching out for the young boy _Dio _(who was running through the corridor again) and getting unclued about Jade's latest snarky remarks, he finally arrived at Lloyd's room.  
"Yo Lloyd! What's up?" he greeted while putting the cake beside him on the desk. He had to be careful to not trip since the room was somewhat messy.  
"Hi Reid." Lloyd said rather gloomily, making the boy raise his eyebrow somewhat sadly. Why was Lloyd so sullen during his birthday?  
"He-hey Lloyd, you gotta try this cake!" said Reid, while scooping a bit from his own slice, "That Flynn's topping, it's so unusual yet tasty! I mean, it's bit... tangy, but I can also detect the nuttiness! Won't you give it a try?"

Now the idealist stared at Reid very tensedly. Reid chuckled nervously and hid his plate behind his back.  
"If it's from Flynn, you can have it. I'm not in the mood for cake today." Lloyd stated, getting up from his seat and heading off to the door. He must have felt pretty grumpy because during opening the door, it hitted something which let out a squeaky yelp of pain.

It was _Pascal_, who was about visit Lloyd as well. The country boy apologized to her quickly as she rubbed her forehead and murmured something.  
"It's all right... So hey Lloyd, up for arranging the birthday gift event? We've prepared a lot for you guys!" announced the technician. Lloyd looked at her for a while. And then, sighing, turned his back at her, walking off somewhere.  
Pascal was left wordless. Reid peeked out from the doorway and watched the boy walk down the stairs as well, blinking for few moments.  
"Gosh, what's with him? He's been all long face since the time he arrived back with others last night!" grunted Pascal, "That's isn't really a normal behaviour for someone having a birthday..."  
"You said it... he's getting all kinds of treats yet it seems like something's really weighing him down..." said Reid.

_" I think I might now what that is. _"

Pascal and Reid turned behind themselves, seeing _Emil _looking at them in the usual shy manner. The technician went closer to him.  
"You do? Tell us!" she said, prompting Emil to remember what he managed to eavesdrop accidentally last night. All three went to Lloyd's room.  
_"Well, uh... um... he..._ he got into an argument."  
"Hunh? With who?" asked Pascal while sitting on the comfy bed.  
"_Colette_."

Both Reid's and Pascal's eyes widened. Reid forgot to take his spoon out from his mouth.  
"_Wha_- what could have possibly made him get into an argument with **her**!?"  
"Lloyd would _never _argue with Colette, that's for sure."

Emil started to move his hand behind his neck nervously.  
"From what I've heard, they spoke something about... consoles and stuff... "  
"Ah, are you referring to the upcoming PS3-compilation pack we showed at the Festival? How would that turn into some big argument?"  
"Well, you two know that Tales Of Symphonia is considered a classic outside of Japan, right?"  
"Yeah? So?" said Reid, munching his cake. Pascal tried to hold her nose.  
"Well... you remember that it's partially due it being on Nintendo Gamecube? I think it's also why we're so popularly know for rest of the world, too. Nintendo's very popular, you know..."  
"So what's the bummer?"  
"Lloyd sorta tried to deny that and all because he thought that he had become some sort of a backstabber. He spoke about how their newest console, Wii U, is sorta doing... abysmally from 's opinion. Yet there's no way for Lloyd to lend his own input on it to help it, despite Nintendo playing big part on him becoming successful."  
"That's true... but I think he should get through that. I mean, we're not going to visit Wii U anytime soon, right? We've settled on Sony now."

Emil suddenly looked away.

"Yeah... that's what I also thought. But recently said otherwise."  
"Huh? What exactly?"  
"We're going to put our resources on PS3 for quite some while now. He has no plans on moving next gen."

Pascal gulped slightly. Reid had pretty disappointed look on his face.

"Ah well... we've done well on PS3 anyway. And due that, the fanbase will stay on that in both Japan, and outside! 's clever for not trying to waste time in consoles our fans aren't interested at..." said Pascal, chuckling. Getting up, she was about to move out from the room, when she heard a rather rude-toned voice.

"_Says the one who debuted on a Nintendo-console as well. Keep talking trash, scrap brain._"

Pascal stopped on her tracks instantly. Reid glanced at Emil. His eyes had become red, signifying him being in Ratatosk-mode again.  
"_Don't mention that! _" demanded Pascal with unusually angry voice. Ratatosk just let her request go through his ears unheard.  
"Yeah, I shouldn't mention how you were so looking forward to see the fruits of your effort when Tales Of Graces was released first time for Wii in Japan.  
Needless to say, that didn't end that well: all _because it was released right near much more successful RPG-game._"

After saying all that, Emil reverted back to normal. But right when regained conciousness, Pascal walked in front of him and was about to slap him, her eyes filled with tears. Emil's heart jumped with fear. He closed his eyes, bracing himself for the hit.

Suddenly Pascal lowered her hand down forcedly and walked slowly to sit on the bed. She coverred her face with both her hands. Emil couldn't now help but tremble and stammer while feeling ashamed.  
"_I-i-i-i-i-I- P-p-p-ascal- I-i-i-m... I-I didn't mean to say tha- or actually I-I kind-a wanted to-to... _**Ugh**!" cried Emil, almost about to leave the room. Reid grabbed his arm however.  
"Heyy, that Ratatouille was a meanie in my opinion, not you," said the hunter.  
"Uh… it's _Ratatosk_." corrected Emil, chuckling a bit. Yet when he thought about his inner summon spirit being mistaken for French food even further, he broke into uncontrollable laughter.  
"Reid, why do you have to always think of food?!" he laughed. Now the amusement spread to Reid too.

Suddenly, both were interrupted by mechanical giggling while lying on the bed. Pascal was holding her chin, almost crying in laughter. After all of them calmed down, Emil tried apologizing again.  
"I-I'm sorry Pascal… I shouldn't have said that. _At least putting in that nasty way…_" he apologized. The technician just patted his back reassuringly.  
"No, you're right. I think I got bitter there, even if I can't really blame it on the console I was on anymore. Sometimes I remember what kind of people we truly are."  
"You mean we're still... _foreign_ to the outside world?" said Emil, becoming slowly embraced by Pascal.  
" I guess you could say that…" she said. The shy boy couldn't stop feeling flustered.  
"You think that's what Lloyd felt too, though? Feeling bitter resentment towards himself because he used to be partially 'Nintendo', too?" wondered Reid.

A little silence occurred. Then Pascal got an idea.

"Guys, we're going to follow him around and find a way to cheer him up! Because if this keeps up, the other birthday boys and girls will start feeling  
down as well." she analyzed. Emil looked up ponderously.  
"How we're going to do that Pascal?"  
"We'll see what he's up to today and go from there. First, let's steal a few costumes from Dio's wardrobe and disguise ourselves. We gotta get some extra accessories as well to be fully covered."  
"Ah?! Are you really sure this'll work? But won't he notice the difference?"  
"Like Mel says, 'he's just a kid'. Don't think he'll be back in his room today since he mentioned something about going to play with Karol. Now then, let's get going!"  
With that, they were off. Pascal even grabbed Reid, who was about to fall off from the bed while dozing off.

Lloyd had just reached the closest town district near the studio. The weather had become somewhat windy- not that it made Lloyd feel any cooler despite his modest choice of clothes today.  
But he wasn't really sure where to go. There were some shops and buildings lined up next to each other where many other characters from Namdai's studios visited and had their own business to attend to. Many of them actually stopped to congratulate Lloyd as they passed him.  
"_Happy 10th anniversary young man!_" said a mustached shopkeeper who threw a free apple for him to catch.  
"Thanks." Lloyd said, slightly chuckling. While taking a bite out of the fruit, he managed to catch a faraway glimpse of a rather empty-looking central park.

Meanwhile the trio from before were closely following him on the other side of the road, following him closely on the sidewalk as well. Staying together proved to be difficult though since Reid tended to stop a few times to window-shop a bit near the shops.  
"I wonder how long we'll keep following him?" asked Emil quietly, "I don't really know where this is supposed to lead to Pascal."  
"We'll see, just keep watch on him. And _Reid_." Pascal sneered, glaring at him.  
"Hey, cut me some slack! I'm just looking at what I want to buy later…"

Lloyd now had just one crosswalk left to cross before reaching the central park. Patiently waiting for the lights to switch, he dug through his pocket inventory again and put his apple core in a trash can. Suddenly he was interrupted by someone tugging his sleeve.  
"_Um, Mr. Lloyd_?" said a voice from behind. Lloyd turned to see a young woman and a kid, each holding a present. The young man recognized them as Susumu from_ Mr. Driller_ and Haruka Amami from _Idolmaster_, respectively.  
"_Eheheheh…_ Thanks." said Lloyd, receiving the presents.  
"Just don't open them before you go home! We don't want you to spoil the surprise, you know?" Haruka requested. Susumu murmured something about her presents definitely melting if they were left unopened for long periods.  
"_Anyway, I gotta go! Bye!_" shouted the young man as he ran across the street. The other two congratulated him for the anniversary while waving at him.

Once he reached the central park, Lloyd stood there for a while at the entrance point, observing the fountain sploshing water into the pool. Near there were some marbled bricks that belonged to a small stone wall circling around the meadow where the fountain stood.  
He walked to one of the bricks and sat on it, taking out the file he received from Mario yesterday. It was ready to be sent to Nintendo HQ: maybe that's where he would head to next.

Suddenly he grabbed onto something inside the files. When he took it out, he noticed it was some sort of small photo album. Was it left there on purpose?  
His curiosity led him to open it. Suddenly his already faint smile faded completely.

There was a picture of him happily ascending the stairs on a plane with his party taking them to E3 2003. It was just a first step, but a giant leap for him and his friends in knowing the outside world, and the outside world becoming aware of him and his friends.

As Lloyd turned the page, he saw another photo. The photo was of him shaking hands with Mario, along with the party and other Nintendo characters, celebrating the release of the game in the states with glasses of bubbly beverages.

Back then… it was almost unthinkable. Like a dream come true then for a series as young as his, which usually stayed in Japan… And to top it off, so many gave their support and tribute to their efforts.

He remembered how he used to be friends with the 'Hero of the Winds'. Wasn't it his anniversary this year as well? He felt like he should go congratulate the little kid.  
The page next to it had Yuan receiving a giant Gamecube as a gift, being a part of the marketing campaign during development. It would later become the "_Giant Cube of the Base_" Lloyd and his friends would run into while escaping Yuan's facility.  
Needless to say, that same console was to become removed a little over a year later from the same base to make way for the Sony-logo… _again_.

He turned to the last two pages. There he saw Emil and Marta, celebrating their time with most of the same gang as Lloyd and his friends: this time on the Wii.

Fast forward a couple of years and another photo showed them casually "Brawling" as the test teams for Super Smash Bros Brawl. Emil defeated Lucas while Lloyd had to eat his defeat despite picking what he heard to be more successful competitor, Meta Knight. Meta Knight looked away from him while Lucas eagerly congratulated the shy boy.

He looked pretty thoughtful, yet his face had hints of melancholy. He felt a grave, yet painful longing.

_Why was there no way for him to go back?_ _Why did he have to be forced to abandon his memories about his successes, along with his closest companions of the family that was the Tales Of Studio's cast?_

Even if he knew it _would_ have turned out like this, he still felt confused and conflicted.

He felt like a backstabber.

Not just towards his friends at Nintendo.

_But at his career ten years ago as well._

It wasn't his decision, but he had to go along with it. And that's when he felt it:

_How easily shattered the bonds between videogame characters truly were._

* * *

_Tales of Studio (c) NamcoBandai_

_Super Smash Bros (c) Nintendo_


	3. Twists and Turns

It took for all trio following the idealist reach their target. Lloyd had already put his hands on his face, signing of having a mild emotional breakdown.

After tiptoeing near bushes, Pascal, Emil and Reid hid inside them slowly, each wearing a random disguise: Pascal wore businessman's formal clothes, Emil had thief's attire, and Reid settled on comic artist's costume. Clearly they weren't enjoying the sight that was in front of them.  
"Maaan, I never had seen him sad in this kind of a way ever. He seems to really be... missing... something..." whispered Reid. Emil sighed gloomily in empathy.  
"Poor, poor Lloyd... if there was anyway we could really make him feel happy during his birthday..." lamented Pascal, putting her hand on her chin.  
Suddenly bushes moved slightly, as being swayed by something. All the three suddenly hid deeper inside the bush in order to avoid Lloyd catching them. In middle of scurried movement, Pascal's wrench dropped from her waistbelt.

Lloyd thought he heard something, like a clunk. He looked behind himself.

Nothing, except one Pooka waddling on the grainy path. The bushes looked to be motionless.  
_It must have been the wind._

But right when he was about to sit down, Lloyd suddenly jolted up in shocked realization.

_The contract._

In midst of his emotional burden detaching him from outside world, Lloyd didn't notice that same wind had caught his contract paper, now carrying them through the air above the central park. The young man saw them heading straight towards the same road he came from.  
Lloyd dashed forward, kicking off from the fountain's stones for a quick head-start He picked up speed and then jumped high to catch the paper.

_No luck. They flew even more above from his reach. _

He cursed quickly, landing down sturdily on his feet. The paper was about to land catastrophically on the busy traffic road, prompting Lloyd to run as fast as he could to retrieve the paper. The trio from earlier popped their heads out in dumbfoundness.  
Suddenly something loud was heard from leftmost block. From there came two anthropomorphic cats driving motorboats like crazy, avoiding other cars or passengers crossing the road. Or downright being about to ram on them, before any potential victims of a grave road accident jumped out from the way. Honking was immense, and it made Lloyd have harder time concentrating on his runaway contract.

Right when the paper was seemingly going to land to the loud road, it fell right on one of the red, chubby cat biker's helmet visor. This resulted in feline waving it's arms around before angrily getting a hold of the paper. He drove off the road, colliding with a candy shop's window. The paper managed to fly off again, now almost landing to the other feline's visor. This one was seemingly carrying a briefcase on it's back, and had pink attire all over on it's vehicle, and biker clothes.

Lloyd was now more than worried, and ran as fast as he could to follow his dear paper. It seemed to know no friend.

But what he thought was the presumption of the feline biker throwing the paper away in hissy fit, was brushed off very baffled as the biker now actually stuffed the paper in it's pocket while keeping a more refined control on his bike than the last was left very shocked and perplexed, now fueling him to come up with a strategy to get his paper back.

The pavement was already full of people: Lloyd kept on apologizing and apologizing as he asked them to move out from his way. He scurried to the other side of the block.

_He noticed the central way being filled up with cars due traffic. The bikers were stuck._

_Traffic lights were still in red. _

Lloyd looked now everywhere he could for.

_Sharp._

_Something sharp._

**_There!_**

He managed to catch the two boys back from the studio: Karol and Dio sparring with wooden swords near a shop on a pavement. He started dashing again, jumping from car to car athletically for a shortcut. Drivers inside them were startled by something heavy landing on their car's roof.

"**_DIO! KAROL!_**"

The boys heard a familiar, yet distressed voice. Then all of a sudden, the young man landed on front of them.  
Lloyd grabbed straight from Karol's wooden sword.  
"I need that, please!" he quaked. Karol asked very confusedly what was going on, but Lloyd succeeded on yanking the sword out from him. He didn't stop to explain as he crossed to road to the other pavement opposite of the boys. Karol and Dio followed him anyway.

Lloyd was now set up. He waited for the traffics to change the lights. He started to charge up power.

But someone stopped him.  
"_Lloyd- Give-it-back!_" demanded the little boy, almost about to climb on him. Lloyd couldn't help but think of shoving him off due fear of losing concentration and being pressured by the direness of the situation.

Suddenly a loud roars of engines went through the air. Lloyd didn't hesitate anymore.

"**_Demon Fang!_**"

His Exsphere glowed brightly- and within that moment, the cars drove off, bikes including. He waved the wooden sword towards the ground.  
However, his arte turned out to be abruptly powerful: the shockwave energy went through the wooden rapier, breaking it in the process.

The shockwave luckily avoid most of the cars, and hit it's target with an explosion. Afterwards, there was only limitless sounds of crashing as cars kept colliding on each other.  
Meanwhile Lloyd was overwhelmed by the enormous impact. He was flung to a wall.

_He passed out immediately._

* * *

_He felt something hammering his back. Was he paralyzed? _

_Something kept shaking him relentlessly. The world was seemingly hard to reach, but he had to get up anyway._

Lloyd opened his eyes weakly.

He noticed how Karol was shaking him in tears. Dios was trembling while keeping his fists close to his abdomen. Both of the boys' expressions brightened up with relief as soon as Lloyd tried to get up.  
"You're okay! I'm so glad!" sobbed Karol. Lloyd nodded in gratefulness at him.

His head hurted a bit, same for his back. Good thing he kept few vulneraries with him: namely the _Gummies_. Lloyd quickly took the _Apple Gummi_ and chewed on it.  
He observed the outcome. The cars were now taken away by Prince of Katamari-fame, rolling them to his infinitely sticky ball. Meanwhile lots of police and ambulances had reached the incident destination.  
One thing was sure: he managed to hit his target. The feline was now taken away by the famed police mouse to his car, possibly carried out from the little pit of cement rubble and blackened rocks from the explosion.

Someone was following the rodent, however. It was a grown man who looked something like a seasoned soldier.  
"Sure this briefcase's all safe _Mappy_? The crashing didn't promise it coming back in one piece..." he said. The police assured him by telling that he had examined the briefcase through properly to ensure it being void of any damage.

Lloyd suddenly remembered.

_"Oh no..."_

He tried to get up, but was bit held down by his weakened state. Dio and Karol helped him up, however.  
"_Thanks_." he uttered. Lloyd gave few thousands of his _Gald _to Karol, urging him to buy a proper sword this time. He then walked slowly towards the rodent and the man, coughing quickly before raising his question.  
"Excuse me... I'm trying to find one of my stolen contracts here. Have you seen any?"

Mappy looked rather puzzled. He recognized the young man, but didn't think he saw anything belonging to him.  
"You can check the pit, but only under my supervision." he said promptly. Lloyd sighed, but soon did what he stated.

Nearing the pit, he looked around. Just a bit near one of the numerous cones laid around the pit, was something that looked like a little piece of burnt paper. Lloyd's heart jumped.

He took it and noticed familiar lines of a formal document, just teenily visible from all the burnt shades of the paper.

He slammed his fist furiously on the ground.

"_Damn... All for __**nothing!**_"

After sighing deeply to calm down, the man got up and was about to walk away from the incident residence. He didn't know what to do anymore. Maybe it'd help to just head back to studio now. The day couldn't have been anymore ruined.

Suddenly when he was about to step on the pavement, a man's voice remarked something towards his direction.

"_I guess it also means I would have lost my briefcase there._"

Lloyd turned at him, realizing that the soldier had heard him venting out near the pit. He chuckled nervously.

"I guess I agree... I'll be just-?"  
"Care to join for a coffee?"  
"_Uh, sure._"

* * *

Both were settling down on a table inside a cafe, after Lloyd recovering some more from eating his gummied vulneraries. Lloyd had an espresso with few cinnamon rolls, while the man settled just on a plain cappuccino.

"You don't take much, I guess?" remarked Lloyd, munching his bun. The man said nothing.  
"By the way, I never got to hear your name. Care to tell me?"  
"... It's a secret."  
"Aaah, but you're offering all this to me, it'd be shame if I couldn't thank you for it later-"  
"_David_."  
"Just... David?"  
"David."

Lloyd made a slight sweatdrop. Seems like this man wasn't as talkative as he thought him to be. He sipped his espresso.

"So uh, David... what brought you here?"  
"Nothing really special... just tried to travel from here to my home company: then outta nowhere some kittycats stole my briefcase. Must have thought to be nice dough of cash."  
"I see. Glad you claimed them back safely."  
"No need to act so humble. I didn't bring myself here alone, after all."  
"Oh, sorry. My bad. I just... had quite of a day. Had this contract getting stolen like yours," Lloyd told," but it managed to burn into crisp when I unleashed my energy shockwave into the one who stole it..."

David suddenly moved his cup away from his mouth, as if catching something interesting.  
"_A... contract?_" he repeated. Lloyd made a sheepish expression due getting startled.  
"Oh, uh, just few private things of mine." he said. David kept looking perplexed, however.  
"You're a videogame protagonist, I presume?"  
"Uh... yeah. I'm Lloyd Irving, from _Tales Of Symphonia._"  
"_Uh-huh..._"

For a while, both were just staying silent there, while other people chattering here and there. Meanwhile a particular trio had walked inside the cafe, settling down on another table far away from Lloyd and his quest.

After the soldier drank down his coffee, he brushed some of it off from his moustache and started talking again.  
"Aren't you from that one particular cult RPG on Gamecube?"  
"Wait- you know me?"  
"Yeah...I think you're one of the folks... from _Tales Of_, wasn't it. I've heard somewhat of you lately on Sony and it's newsboards. That's where I've made my majority of works on too."  
"Woah, really? Care to give me name?"  
"**No**."

Lloyd felt like apologizing due getting caught off-guard from that hard statement. Yet he felt it wasn't fair for him to tell bit much about himself to stranger who didn't want to tell any info in return.  
"I told you enough of myself, anyway... can't you tell me a bit?"  
"I gave you my name. Be grateful I even went to do that... Another detail of myself and I'll be surrounded by fanboys... and girls. Would be much harder trip back home, you know."  
"I... uh... sorry. I understand your concern."

Lloyd looked to the window. The sun was starting to shine through the clouds a bit. He suddenly asked one more thing.

"But hey, tell me: were you on Gamecube as well? _Ever?_"

David looked away now. Lloyd eyed on his facial hair forming his mature, seasoned look of a war veteran.

"_Once_."  
"What for?"  
"A remake of my game."  
"Uh, really? _Heheh..._"  
"Why you ask?"  
"Well... uhm... it's bit touchy question."  
"No need to tell then."

The man got his newspaper now from the waiter, and started reading it. Lloyd started to remember his longing and emotional stress.

"Uhm... have you felt like you... backstabbed your roots? As in being forced to forget what made you great at the first place?"

David lowered his newspaper down a bit.

"_What're you talking about_?"  
"Uhm... how to put this... my game's soon getting remastered, and be presumably, released exclusively on Playstation 3. No news on giving it on Nintendo Wii U either..."  
"So? Is there a big deal?"

Lloyd looked distressedly away.

"Yes. I remember how my game was particularly known most well on being on Gamecube. Nintendo helped us a bit on pushing the game here and there as I kept working to release it outerstates with Namco Telecom...

But now... I'm just doing this to them. Turning my back on them. I've seen Wii U being bit in a bad shape due low sales and less-than-stellar game library. But I can't have my output on it... all because our producers wants us to put our resources on PS3 for sake of our core fanbase."

The man looked to be still all ears. Lloyd continued.

"I feel... like a... backstabber." he uttered disheartenedly.

Now David lowered his newspaper.

"I see where you come from... because I've met Nintendo's folk too. A lot, even...  
Pretty easy-going and colorful folk, aren't they?"  
"Yeah... I want... I want to see them again, maybe... But I'm afraid they don't want to meet up with me because now I've settled on a console that will compete against them."

The soldier raised his eyebrow. He crossed his arms on the table.

"Console competition... they seem to be quite on your head, huh...

_I started on a home computer software, along with most of the other franchises my company had created. It was a lot what I called my home back then... along with not minding I looked a lot like a crappy caricature of many action heroes from the 20nth Century. _

_Then came Nintendo and it destroyed it down... I didn't resurface for some while, until the time Playstation hitted a high tide. When I went to work there, I became a world-wide success. I had realized my best priority, and decided to stick with Sony since then._

_And now looking back to the company who made the console which I was born on... now they're just turning it into some kind of a TV within a videogame console. And churn out some FPS with dog soldiers, while not letting you even share your games with someone else anymore. How cute from that company, dare to even call it a videogame one anyway..._"

Lloyd ooh'd on his tale.

"But... you went to put a remake on Gamecube?"  
"Yeah. Thought of distributing my success a bit to draw in more audience and try out some new grounds. There I met folk of Nintendo a bit, but not much up close."  
"But you say you're very familiar with 'em, right?"  
"Yeah. Reason for that though is something personal, got it?"  
The idealist nodded, now relaxed bit more on the table. He was getting more curious.  
"I wish I could do the same... put my game there on Nintendo's console again. Yet... I can't. I'm just this backstabber, that's all."

Lloyd hadn't noticed that David had shook his head.

"A true backstabber is one who straightly ignores friendship in order to help_ himself only._ And is willing to forge friendships just for that purpose."  
"But... isn't that basically what am I doing?"  
"On the surface, you might not be too far. But at the end, it's due your own producers who might know more about your priorities...

However, I see you as a very kind-hearted, grievous soul. You don't wish to let go from your friendship.

_Back in my current place where I live, all people in Sony tend to speak about "competition", "competition" "Wii", "Xbox" and again "competition". It got quite dull... like listening to a bunch of sheep._

_Meanwhile the folk back in Nintendo aren't even that untolerable even if you're a fella from Sony. They really like you for who you are... and sometimes have been there for me when I would actually lose my job in another appearance rather than my major work..._

They couldn't be... _shabbier_. I managed to give another one of my works after getting more close with them.

_To be completely honest..._ what most people in this videogaming industry tend to forget:

_Friendship is a path to miracle and perhaps, a better world. War of hatred is not. _

_If people would just stop looking at what console they're on and how it should limit them from meeting more people who would turn out to priceless friends... _

_I still call the whole console competition-thing just another big reason for arrogance, intolerance and pride. It's stupid, and it'll always stay stupid. It makes gamers bicker and hate each other, trying to act powerful because they try to "own" certain videogame properties that are popular. They try to find reasons to say how console is superior to one another._

_What a bunch waste of time..._ "

David drank some more of his coffee.

"_But you... you're still looking for your best priority in means of outerstates at the moment... but it doesn't mean you- more specifically, your producers, won't hold out giving some of your experiences on other consoles time to time. For such bit foreignly known series outerstates, that's more than a kind offer from you guys. And you have done it time to time as I've seen. Yeah, my vision..._

_But what's important that you choose to forge friendships stronger than break them. And the whole "competing console"-crap shouldn't belong there in any means. You better know that.  
We are all, at the end, same kind of beings. Just with different souls and roles in the world._

_So Lloyd, stop deceiving yourself._

_You're not a backstabber._

_Besides, what is your game anyway, some new title in your adventures? I thought it was just a bunch of rehearses from your last?_"

Lloyd was surprised there. Soon he felt a lot of warmth ballooning inside him. David spoke so much good truth there. His game was just a remaster, just with some new bells and whistles.  
Tales Of-series had done some "volunteering" as well: like few years ago about Tales of Abyss-crew working on 3DS once to put their port of the game, and got free 3DS-systems as gifts in return.

But David pointed on something he had forgotten, perhaps: he still had his own works and family he should do best with to prosper in the gamerdom world, as much as his wishes to forge connections with other companies- more importantly individuals within them.

After all, he wasn't some mere videogame character that went mindlessly on with only success on his mind and beared no identity. He was an individual himself.

So it would be then most best to look as much for himself as much as he looks over his friends. _Even if there's some forces that might get in the way. The way to conquer them was up to himself._

It felt like his emotional burden was lifted now: perhaps he could try moving on with much better self-confidence.  
But Lloyd didn't know if he could smile.  
The problem still persisted. He sighed.

"If I just could be there to help them... really..._ if just... some way..."_

"_But aren't you? Already?_"

Lloyd eyes widened. He was confused about what David meant.  
"Well, I don't know myself. I don't think we're doing anything with 'em at the moment..."  
"Hunh? But I thought you were aware of Tales Of-Studio's few directors helping with current_ Super Smash Brothers_-game, right?"

Now the idealist's jaw dropped.

"_How-wh-what-when-__**-how?! **_How do you know? None told me! I hope you're not joking!"  
"It was said back more than a year ago in the news. A lot of NamcoBandai's crew is on the belt on working with this game... had guys from _Tekken_, _Soul Calibur_ and your little studio. You sure you never heard of it?" said David.  
"I never did! None told me..."

Now David chuckled.

"I think it's about time you went to speak with Nintendo about it. Maybe to get more informed about it or so. Anyway, I need to head off now. My bus's waiting there soon."

The soldier got up now. Lloyd though felt pretty flustered, and grabbed his arm.

"Tell me David... I just wonder... could this all have just been different? I mean, maybe this was just... a mere coincidence?" he said.

David just eyed on him, little bothered.  
"What else way it could have been young man? I guess it'd mean you wouldn't even be here now.

The truth is, you don't truly know _how it could be any different._ This is the one, and only way how it was meant to turn out to be.

_Nah, I shouldn't get too deep there. I need to go. See you someday, country boy._"

And by that, David was off. Lloyd felt like thanking him... but knew that he had done enough- after seeing the soldier opening the door while holding the black briefcase.

Soon, he was off too, walking leisurely, with mood much brighter, out of the cafe.

The trio from before had now lowered their newspapers and discussed heatedly about whay they managed to hear.  
"That man... _gosh..._ his words really touched my heart," said Pascal.  
"And mine too. I miss now going back as well, despite knowing that I'm bit of not well-received spinoff outerstates..." said Emil, sighing in relief.

Reid looked at both understandably, even if still drooling due the intoxicating, sweet scents of the confectioneries coming from the cafe's kitchen.  
"You two could use going back a bit too... Maybe as to relish your good ol' days? I wouldn't mind a bit of relaxation myself..."

Pascal soon nodded. Her closed eyes hinted at reminiscing about someone.  
"Yeah... I think I'm going to consider doing it. What about you Emil?"  
Emil nodded back, if little shyly. He didn't wish to turn back.

* * *

Evening had fallen on the world of Namco and Bandai.

Outside of the studio, sitted the crew of Regeneration, waiting for Lloyd's return. He hadn't been there when all of them were receiving their birthday presents back in the mansion's birthday bash. Colette of course, became most worried, and insisted them to wait for him directly near the glorious fountain in front of the mansion.

Genis was splashing the water boredly.  
"Where could he possibly have gone into during today?" he wondered, "we shouldn't had let him walk on his own after what happened yesterday...""I think he needed to clear his mind. But indeed, he wasn't really in the best mood from last time I've seen," thought Raine, looking up in the clear starry sky.  
"None would be after regretting of yelling at poor Colette: I thought it was good air when someone gloomy wasn't there all the time around with us, anyway.

Ee-yup,_ there he is._"

Zelos pointed at the port fences, where a silhouette of a young man was about to approach. Lloyd was coming back to them.

"_Guys! Sorry for being gone so long!_"

Now everyone stood up and sprinted to meet the idealist. Colette went headfirst, calling out Lloyd's name, and embraced him tightly after getting close enough. Lloyd almost fell over.  
"Colette!" he said while catching his breath."I'm so sorry..._ I shouldn't have gone like this..._"

The angel girl looked at him rather bittersweetly now, despite smiling little.  
"_No Lloyd... I should have understood your situation..._"

Lloyd became afraid. He didn't wish for Colette to feel as down as he did today for remainder of their birthday.  
"Whatever it is... don't think that. I've gone through that now." he said.  
"So... how do you feel now?" asked Colette.

Everybody had gathered around him now. Lloyd thought for a while what to say. But he felt warming up again with relief and happiness after remembering his encounter with David.

"_Guys... I was wrong for thinking so badly about myself, as someone who had broken friendships willingly. And try to make you believe you were the same. I was blinded with conflict within me that time... even if for bit of a petty little decision._

_You remember how I had always wanted to have a world where everyone could live together, without hating each other and looking down upon each other due who they are?_

_I thought that by moving to Sony, I'd be turning my back on my friends. That again, just tells me how much of an assumption the consumers have in the outside world... they think that competition is much cooler, and thus, is very good at giving us some kind of superiority-like feeling due exclusivity to consoles and whatnot.  
__And it got over me. I thought I should now stop looking to Nintendo- no, any videogame company as partners. Turn them into my enemies in order to just concentrate on my success.__  
_

_Yet, we lose so much during that when we'll think so. We can't forge friendships... keep them... instead these kind decisions have to generate even more hate as we'll be moving to other consoles and so on. It's so sad how people forget that. Which is why I know hate the whole idea of consoles determining what kind of people we are and who we should service ourselves to. It categorizes us, and makes us think too highly and selfishly about ourselves because of our devotion...  
Most importantly, it made me forget why we're here right now and together at the first place._

_I've never realized my dream even more clearly until now. I wish everyone could forge more friendships rather than being rivals enough to give people reason to hate, and bicker each other due what console these properties are on. No matter where we're from._

_Because we're all still... plainly put, celebrating ourselves and our legacy. I can't be happier to come this far with you guys... and anymore grateful for anyone who have helped in our way._"

A longwinded silence went through the courtyard. Suddenly Zelos clapped. Genis followed, as did his big sister. Until everyone just gave a loud applause to the young swordsman.  
"That's our Lloyd. You're still all big damn dreams... Glad to hear you're back!" said the casanova, firmly placing his hand on Lloyd's shoulder. The kunoichi crossed her arms, smiling proudly.  
"But he's right... where did you get all those thoughts anyway?" she asked. Lloyd scratched the back of his head while chuckling nervously.  
"Well, all sorts of things happened."

He explained what happened today, from his runaway contract, to meeting David. Genis was clearly unimpressed.  
"Typical Lloyd, you managed to burn the contract as well?" he sneered.  
"Hey, it was all an accident! Besides it wasn't really... _my _fault..." muttered before he could continue, someone small was trotting through the courtyard towards them.  
"_Mieu_?" said Regal, picking the creature up. Mieu handed out a letter from his back rather frantically.  
"Mister... Lloyd... and everyone else! This letter came here just a while ago, so thought of letting you know!" he reported, "Anyway, gotta go now, _mieu~!_"

The cheagle hopped off from Regal's open palms and just floated away towards one of windows of the mansion. He muttered something about Luke again.

Regal opened the letter however, and eyed through it. It was bit dark, but one could see how his eyes widened gradually with surprise.  
"Well... this is certainly... interesting... yet very unexpected." he said, "care to hear me read for you?"  
"Sure." Lloyd replied.

"_**Dear Heroes of Regenefication,**_

_After hearing about your 10nth anniversary, we thought we should something absolutely__** super-duper**__ to celebrate your years-a! So I'll be glad to announce you that we've arranged a surprise for you in Wuhu Island! Don't miss out from this, because I've planned something very huge!_

_(And don't have much free days between my works. Nintendo EAD's still leering at me while they wait...)_

_Here's your 3-day tickets! Meet us in the Cocoba Hotel! _

_See you at the Wuhu Island!_

**_Sincerely, "Super" Mario Segali Mario. "_**

Everyone couldn't help but giggle at Regal reading plainly what was a letter written in a stereotypical italian accent. Zelos almost fell on the ground laughing.  
"Man Regal, you should now get a mustache and then you'd be one hell of a stoic italian chef," he remarked, "also didn't you read what he called us? "_Regenefication_?" _I had almost forgot how funny that plumber was!_"  
"So is this... _yet another birthday bash?_" thought Presea. Colette was delighted.  
"With Mario? I'd love to!", she giggled, "I hope we'll see his friends as well. It has been such a long time..."

"Wouldn't mind either, we all have some days off still anyway, and it's held the day after tomorrow." said Regal.  
"Woo! Just think of all the treats you can get everyone. I personally get to enjoy more hunnies..." rejoiced Zelos, only to get smacked by Sheena the moment after, who promised to keep watch on him.  
"Let's take Emil and Marta there too! And Tenebie!" said the Chosen. Others nodded in agreement.  
"There's some extra tickets anyway..." Raine noticed, "Wonder where they get these so easily..."

Suddenly Genis tucked his best friend's shirt.  
"So what about you Lloyd? Coming too?" he said, hinting at something due sneering still. Lloyd got the gist what he meant.  
"Well... _the contract burned, so..._

_Yeah. I'm coming too! Why I should miss out going to that resort anyway?_"

Suddenly the lights were turned all on inside the mansion. It seemed like rest of the studio's crew had seen the party at the courtyard.  
"I guess we should head back now," said Kratos. But he went to Lloyd, and without anyone noticing, patted him on the back.  
"_Glad that_ y_ou're better... keep that way from now on._" he said, then left without a word.

Lloyd couldn't help smiling ear to ear now. It seemed like everything turned to be all well. Lest he didn't expect to have Colette suddenly touching his shoulder.  
"I'm so glad you're better. I knew you hadn't changed," she said. Lloyd couldn't help chuckling.  
"Colette, I never had. Don't be such a doofus. I'll always stay like this, for you, and everyone else."

_He holded her face close to his as the night drew over the mansion._


End file.
